Smith came to Western State Colorado University from San Antonio, Texas, to play basketball. Although he didn’t end up joining the team, he stayed for the university’s academics, community and environment.

However, Smith didn’t settle for just enjoying Gunnison —he decided he wanted to play a role in its growth, too.

Between his freshmen and sophomore years, Smith built a business from the ground up. The café, named The 808 after the building’s address, sits in the Meadows Shopping Center near City Market.

Western had 153 transfer students this semester who are looking for something different. Students come from all 50 states, looking for a university that is going to give them more opportunities and new experiences.

In just three years, Western’s Trail Running Team has grown from a small group of students competing in casual weekend events to a competitive collegiate team traveling to some of the largest trail and ultra-races in the country. The team is part of the Mountain Sports program, which offers every discipline of skiing, snowboarding and cycling­—in addition to trail running.

For decades, hundreds of students at Western State Colorado University have harnessed their love of the outdoors and channeled it into a lifesaving pursuit.

The idea of forming a search and rescue team began in 1973, when a group of Western students banded together to search for and rescue a missing physics professor. The passion displayed by this initial group of students developed into the Western Mountain Rescue Team (WMRT).

Last week, Alex Modell, Josh Hirschman, Mandi Johnson and Phillip Kitt officially became Western’s first group of University Innovation Fellows (UIF).

The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) at Stanford University is the epicenter of the UIF program, which seeks to create a worldwide network of motivated students who want to improve their campuses and communities through innovative design solutions.

The Western group plans to use their shared entrepreneurial spirit to inspire change on campus and around the Gunnison Valley.

ODK has more than 285 active circles at colleges and universities across the United States. The honor society remains committed to developing campus leaders who will become tomorrow’s community leaders.

What's the best way to see what life is like at Western? Preview Days! You'll have the chance to tour the campus, hear some of our current students’ stories, meet with professors in your area of interest, eat lunch in our dining hall and chat with the admissions and financial aid staff.

Press Release

The funds were awarded as a Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) grant by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. POWER grants are dedicated to economic revitalization and workforce training in coal communities.

Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) Program, which began just a couple of short years ago, continues to grow and attract diverse students from across the globe. The incoming class hails from 30 universities and brings a wealth of knowledge from 16 different undergraduate programs. These 39 new students joined the 33 second-year students to form a robust program.